Mary-Jane Foster, who was once part owner of the Bridgeport Bluefish, believes the team should continue playing at The Ballpark at Harbor Yard. The team's lease with the city expires in 2016. Foster, a Democratic candidate for mayor, is shown in this file photo leaving a forum with the Bridgeport Police Union last month. less

Mary-Jane Foster, who was once part owner of the Bridgeport Bluefish, believes the team should continue playing at The Ballpark at Harbor Yard. The team's lease with the city expires in 2016. Foster, a ... more

Mayor Bill Finch believes a deal between the city and the Bluefish can be worked out to keep the team in Bridgeport after its current lease expires in 2016. Finch, a Democrat running for re-election, is shown in this file photo at the opening of the Blackham School Youth Development Park last month in Bridgeport. less

Mayor Bill Finch believes a deal between the city and the Bluefish can be worked out to keep the team in Bridgeport after its current lease expires in 2016. Finch, a Democrat running for re-election, is shown ... more

BRIDGEPORT — The despondent email arrived shortly after midnight Thursday, almost guaranteed to sit unopened until the morning.

It didn’t matter.

The lost hours, slowly falling off a clock in a New Britain marketing office, were never going to save this city’s baseball team.

“Final Rock Cats Homestand Ever!” the email blared.

But it was like “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, that famous painting with a hollow face roaring in silent swirls of tempera.

Nobody heard this plea, either. It was already too late. So the Hartford Yard Goats await.

This could be the Bridgeport Bluefish next year unless the city’s mayor — whomever that may be — negotiates a new lease with Frank Boulton and his Long Island ownership group.

For two-term incumbent Mayor Bill Finch, a Democrat, the decision will rest largely on timing and compromise. It’s the only way a responsible agreement can end with handshakes and signatures.

“The Bridgeport Bluefish are currently a tremendous asset to the city,” Finch said in a statement. “And, as we move into contract negotiations next year, I will evaluate whether the team remains a wise investment for Bridgeport’s future, especially as the city continues getting better every day.”

The team’s current nine-year lease with the city expires in 2016, and unless a deal is hammered out, The Ballpark at Harbor Yard could eventually lose the only tenant it has known since 1998.

Although Boulton said last month he is committed to negotiating a new contract, he did not rule out moving the team if the Bluefish and the city can’t get a deal done.

And so the high-stakes game of chicken begins.

No more favors

At least one mayoral candidate, Republican City Councilman Enrique Torres, is willing to let the team go if the Bluefish ask for another round of subsidies. But Torres stressed that is his last bargaining chip, not his first one.

“I am not a fan of giving anybody a break. I want everybody to pay their fair share,” said Torres, who owns Harborview Market in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport. “The Bluefish are an organization that has gone to the well many times.

“Don’t ask me for any more favors. I’m done. I would prefer that instead, they went out and got corporate sponsors,” said Torres. “For them to come to the city and go to the well again, I think that well is dry — about as dry as it gets, I believe. It doesn’t get much drier.”

Boulton said the Bluefish have signed long-term sponsors. There has also been a noticeable swell in the number of outfield signs touting local businesses.

But that only tightens the tourniquet around the books. It doesn’t stop the bleeding — for a baseball team or its host city.

When the current lease was being negotiated in 2005, Bridgeport officials were told the Bluefish lost $1.2 million in 2003-04. As a result, the City Council knocked down the team’s annual rent from $225,000 to $150,000.

A front row seat

For Democratic mayoral candidate Mary-Jane Foster, who has been part owner of the Bluefish on two separate occasions, keeping the team, its jobs and its revenue stream is a priority for her campaign.

Foster, who recently qualified for a spot on the Democratic mayoral primary ballot Sept. 16, helped bring the Bluefish to Bridgeport. She and her husband, Jack McGregor, incubated the idea before selling the team in 1999.

Foster and her partners bought the team again in 2005 before selling it a second time in 2008. Not once did it turn a profit, including a roughly $500,000 loss in 2006, McGregor told The New York Times.

“You can’t underestimate the value of that ballpark and (Webster Bank) arena to the city,” Foster said. “I’m not suggesting an economic bailout or anything like that for the Bluefish. But as mayor, I would do everything I could to keep the team in Bridgeport.

“With the development of the ballpark and the arena, we gave people who wouldn’t otherwise come to Bridgeport a reason to come here. As a back-of-the-envelope estimate, I would say about $40 million has been generated over the last 17, 18 years. The Bluefish have drawn over 3 million fans during their history.

“Before those two venues, I would argue that there was nothing in Bridgeport to attract new business to the city. There had been no new development in Bridgeport for God knows how long. We need to keep that team and those jobs as we continue to develop downtown.”

Reinventing the waterfront

For Democrat Joe Ganim, the former Bridgeport mayor who will join Finch and Foster on the Sept. 16 primary ballot, the Bluefish are a key building block to development in the South End, downtown and Steel Point with Bass Pro Shops as its anchor.

Long-term sustainability in Bridgeport needs more than one economic engine, of course. Shopping at Bass Pro, relaxing at Pleasure Beach and watching the Bluefish play is a tourism board’s dream.

But that’s all it is, right now — a dream. It’s up to leadership in the mayor’s office to help pull it together with the Bluefish.

“I’m very much into keeping the Bluefish in town as long as we can come to an agreement that is fair and responsible. I look at the team as an important part of the downtown revitalization,” Ganim said. “We brought the Bluefish in close to 20 years ago. I’d like to see them here another 20 years.

“The Bluefish have definitely created jobs and that’s been a real positive for city residents,” Ganim said. “To me, that’s an integral part of any agreement with the team. We need there to be a continuation or an increase in their ability to provide local jobs.”

Ganim is right, of course, even if they are just seasonal jobs working the counter in the gift shop or cleaning the stands with a leaf blower.

Helping the Grand List

For Charlie Coviello, another Democratic mayoral candidate in an already dense field, the same, tired narrative must change. The way Coviello sees it, the city has helped the Bluefish for too long at the expense of its own fiscal health.

“I am a giant Bluefish fan. However, you can’t just give away the city for a baseball team. The citizens of the city have to realize that costs us money,” Coviello said. “We need to develop a lease that will help the city, but at the same time, keep the Bluefish here.

“Unfortunately, that could be difficult in what I expect to be a very tough fiscal situation in the city next year. I’m in the real estate business. I can tell you our Grand List is going to plummet,” Coviello said. “Baseball is all about teamwork, just like this lease has to be. We have to find a way to meet in the middle and get this done.”